Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

Uhtred considered whether to pose the question as he stuffed the Extraction device back into his pocket. If killing Level 3 beasts was the normal quest requirement, then his act of asking about it would make Ascendant Favoured One suspicious.

Uhtred wasn’t willing to reveal his cards to anyone at all. Especially not to someone whose origins he barely knew.

Ah, wait. He’s going to see my absorption speed when I start cultivating with the beast core anyway, Uhtred thought.

He didn’t know what was considered normal by a "Pathfinder’s" standard. But he knew his Primordial Grade core was anything but normal.

Even a random person would be able to tell something was off with how fast his core devoured cosmic essence, not to talk of someone like Ascendant Favoured One, who was much more experienced.

No. You know what... This can actually work in my favor, Uhtred paused, a ghost of a smirk flickering on his face as he devised another plan of action.

He strode away from the lizard’s corpse looking for his next prey, while Ascendant Favoured One continued to send in streams of messages. They ranged from talks about how weak humans were, to questions about what level Uhtred was, and even about his core grade and attunement.

Uhtred answered none of these, of course. He was entirely focused on completing his quest as quickly as possible. And in time, Ascendant Favoured One went silent after receiving no response.

Thirty minutes passed, and Uhtred had killed six more of those lizard beasts, two of which were less than Level 5, so they didn’t count towards his quest requirement.

He pulled up the Quest panel and checked his current progress.

[Quest Status]

Trial Of First Blood: 6/10 complete

Time Left: {01:12:56}

More than an hour left and I’m already more than halfway done with the quest, Uhtred thought. It wasn’t so hard after all...

He was saying this, but he knew the bulk of this ease came from the fact that he was Level 4 right now. All the lizard beasts he encountered would have posed a genuine threat had he still been Level 1, or even Level 2.

But at Level 4, the difference in levels was close enough that his adept use of cosmic essence to enhance his movements and attacks made every fight a breeze.

The beasts had the level advantage, but they simply lacked the intelligence and ability to circulate cosmic essence as free-form as Uhtred could.

I guess I can go ahead and begin now, Uhtred thought, spotting another tree he could climb as he roamed the forest floors.

Ascendant Favoured One had gone silent for several minutes now, and Uhtred knew his plan was already working.

Regardless of how the Ascendant had repeatedly mocked the strength of the beasts Uhtred had faced, it would be foolish to continue to assume it was mainly because the beasts were "weak" that Uhtred was able to defeat them so easily.

Ascendant Favoured One had watched Uhtred fight against a total of seven of these creatures since he entered the channel. He had seen Uhtred dance around every single one of them, his movements getting sharper and more precise after each fight.

That kind of growth speed made the Ascendant go silent, and Uhtred reckoned he was reassessing his take on the whole situation. He must have realized that it wasn’t that the beasts were weak. It was just Uhtred who was growing so fast and adapting so quickly that it made the beasts look as if they weren’t even trying.

He still hasn’t decided yet, though... Uhtred held back a grin. Well, this will make him decide...

He brought out his Beast Core Extraction Artifact and poured out the beast cores held within. It was somehow able to hold all the seven beast cores comfortably — likely with some kind of spatial shenanigans at work, Uhtred had thought when he’d first noticed the effect.

He was thoroughly intrigued, but trying to understand the mechanics of how it worked was a curiosity he saved for later.

He grabbed one of the beast cores then closed his eyes, taking a deep, calming breath as he prepared to cultivate according to the manual he’d learned.

Within seconds, cosmic essence began to circulate within his body, drawn from the beast core straight to his own. And the instant that connection was made, all semblance of stability crumbled yet again.

The cultivation technique was entirely useless, serving only as the means to form a connection between his core and the beast’s. Uhtred simply let his core do the work from then onwards.

Mid-cultivation, he parted his eyes open and slowly grabbed another of the beast cores before the first was fully devoured, keeping the process going.

The first core was gone in the span of a few breaths, then the second, and the third, the fourth...

All seven beast cores were finally used up, the cosmic essence held within them now brimming in Uhtred’s core. His body vibrated from the stored energy, and steam rose out of his pores like the sweat on his skin was evaporating rapidly — though that wasn’t actually the case... rather, it was simply an excess loss of cosmic essence.

Even for someone with a core as greedy as Uhtred’s, consuming seven essence cores in such rapid succession and within such a short amount of time meant not all of it could be fully assimilated.

His core could keep on devouring cosmic essence at such speeds, but his body couldn’t adapt to that same level of transformation effectively.

Perhaps this is where a better cultivation technique is needed, Uhtred thought as he tried to circulate the essence within his body and minimize loss as much as possible.

Well, it doesn’t matter for now. I’ve achieved my main goal for sure. He opened his eyes and exhaled calmly, steadying his breath.

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 5] +2 Merits.

[Congratulations! You have reached level 6] +2 Merits.

[Congratulations! You have reached level 7] +2 Merits.

[Congratulations! You have reached level 8] +2 Merits.

Total Merits earned : 343.

Hmm, I thought seven cores would’ve been enough for me to reach Level 10, Uhtred mused. But then he quickly came to the conclusion that each level most likely took more to cross than the previous one. That would explain why he was currently sitting at early Level 8 only.

This is still enough anyway. More importantly, ’he’ should react any minute now...

[Notice!]

[Ascendant Favoured_One has evoked priority rights to become your Sponsor]

[Note: Sponsor can only be accepted after reaching Level 50]

[Accepting now will only give Ascendant Favoured_One priority rights to bid for your hand]

[Do you accept?]

"Wait wait, back up a bit... What do you mean ’bid for my hand?!’ I’m not some fucking damsel!"